"The long-awaited KDE 4.0.0 was released last week as scheduled. Even though the expectations - following a couple of less than convincing release candidates - weren't very high and the consensus was that the first release of KDE 4 would be more of a 'technology preview' than a usable desktop environment for general deployment, it's hard not to see the enormous amount of good work that has gone into the new code. As Kubuntu's Jonathan Riddell put it, KDE 4 is the start of something amazing and this is possibly the best definition of the current release - it's here, it's available, but it's nowhere near ready for the prime time. It's a decent start, though. Unsurprisingly, the reaction of distributions was a mixed bag. Below is a summary of information about the availability of KDE 4.0.0 in various distributions."

* KDE will cost how much?
* There ist time involved? Then wait for the first reviews of early adopters.
* And in case you will not be satisfied: KDE3 will be around until KDE4 matures fully.

You know, there definitely are some differences between Microsoft and KDE. Most notably the one that KDE owes you only as much as you are willing to give to KDE, and for the majority of people on this planet that is - exactly nothing.